Best Hold Your Tongue Poems


Premium Member The Reclusive Verses

Wanting to shrug off this shell, break loose from me
Silence that damn hermit, hiccuping under his tree
Trapped inside too long, dormancy dreams to wake 
Disgorging bubbly lava, fills in soporific landscapes 

Longing to escape soft tissue, cast off mortal bones 
Break shackles of mundanity, rid life’s infernal drone 
Out there lies all answers, beyond the hermits void
His space mostly perfect, til our Big Bang destroyed 

Go forth and multiply, primal stars hypernova like hell
Filling a cosmos with elements, configuring him as well 
Hold your tongue hermit, stop humming about in bliss
Stay quiet down that hole, cease fumbling at the abyss

Deeper and deeper, below where basements depress
Sits an altar of incremental tables, poets go to confess 
Forget truths algorithm, they’ll fool any polygraph test
And the hermit lies all day long, he meditates for a rest

Breathe in, breathe out, forget about terminal breaths
Don’t underestimate the ether, chants a monk in Tibet
Fill your mind with mindfulness, peace will set you free
Watch them hiccups abate now, our hermit’s all at sea



 February 6th 2023 / 2022 Poetry Marathon Qualifiers' 
FINAL Placement Poetry Contest / Sponsor: Mark Toney
Categories: hold your tongue, allusion, confusion, how i
Form: Rhyme

Broken Promises

Promises, Promises...boldy broken
I spite these words when hastily spoken
The act pledged is almost never the issue
  it's the scanning of priorties...somehow they missed you!!
You would never have held breath and waited
  But the promiser spoke, declaritively stated...
"I will..."  "We'll Go...." "Real soon..."  "I promise..."
  You'd have no reason not to take them at honest...

From as far back as I can remember
every promise I heard was "return to sender"
The phone would ring, my heart would sing
  voice on the other end says...."forget the whole thing"
No fishing trips, campouts, or cookouts...look out!
  Every time my hopes were up, then hooked out...
I died each time they let me down
  when they picked me up, then set me down
    when I had to kick start the merry-go-round
      sat in an unpushed swing at the play ground...

So thinking back, I know it's why
I see a broken promise like a boldface lie
I hate nothing more than when words are hollow
  when an oral oath lacks the action to follow
        Trust breaks down when mouths, they run
         Hold your tongue then no harm is done!!
            



Inspired by Michael's "What gets your Goat" contest!!
Categories: hold your tongue, peoplewords, me, me, time,
Form: Rhyme

Sailing Away

Cruising the Mediterranean
I don't wish to fight any more
I want to enjoy the sunset
On the sea I so adore

Please hold your tongue
In silence,
View the beauty all around,
Tend the sails with care
So we don't run aground

I'll make us Margaritas,
We'll dine in finest style
As our sloop carries us
Through many a sea mile

No fighting, please,
I beg you,
Let this be a sailing
in but total peace,
And anger and misunderstanding,
I pray that they do cease

So hold me as you did once,
No question of our love,
And watch the Albatross
As he flies off with the dove

The soothing sea to rock us,
As if babies in need of sleep
And the new memories we create
Forever shall we keep.
© Tom Bell  Create an image from this poem.
Categories: hold your tongue, adventure, forgiveness, happiness, holiday,
Form: Free verse

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry


Hidden Secrets

Once upon a time a "Beauty Flies". Wings shining bright against the moon light.
She took flight but... unknown to her it was a spider waiting for her, with its "Web" already made.
Before she knew it that is where she laid.
Angry at first she fought to get loose. 
Soon her strength started to fade.
Discourage sadness sat down beside her.
Beauty there is no hope of escape Sadness spoke.
Hold your tongue Sadness because here comes my "Love Lost".
Beauty became happy again so Sadness faded away.
"Love Lost" knelt in front of Beauty and said if you take my hand you will be free.
Just believe and see.
Beauty hesitated at first then reached her hand out to "Love Lost".
When their hands touched the "Web" around Beauty melted away.
Free from her captive she embraced "Love Lost" and they flew away together.
Unknown to Beauty and "Love Lost" when they flew away the spider that sat on the tree beside the "Web" hiding turned into Cupid and smiled and flew away to wait for another day.
Categories: hold your tongue, fantasy,
Form: Blank verse

Premium Member Dear Younger Me

Dear younger me,
There are some things that I would say
to help you out along the way:
mistakes I’ve made and deep regrets,
things I would change you’ve not seen yet.

Dear older me,
All that seems nice,
but let’s hold back on that advice.
It may be true,
but I’m not sure you’ve thought this through.

Dear younger me,
Are you for real? Surely you jest!
I’ve had more time, and I know best.
The cost was dear: real sweat and blood.
Why would you choose to traipse the mud?

Dear older me,
Wake up somehow!
I’m worried ‘bout my future now.
I’ve played this game to some degree;
did not see you in future me.

Dear younger me,
But I could share: go buy this stock,
lay off the booze, don’t go in hock.
Just stop and think of where you’d be;
The best part is, the lesson’s free.

Dear older me,
Great multiverse!
The situation’s getting worse!
Just hold your tongue and say no more
or I am headed out the door.
My future is not yours to share;
the way is fraught with danger there.

Dear younger me,
Now I’m confused; help an old man.
Explain this out; that’s if you can.

Dear older me,
I’ll do my best, but just so far,
for I’ll not go past where you are,
for much of what I know as true
might change if I change future you.
You hope to spare my heart the ache
and help me choose the path to take.
The problem is, when I arrive,
what you call you won’t be alive.
Decisions made all shape and mold
the man we are when we grow old.
Just think, if we had stayed in school
and not become a drunken fool,
would we have ever reached wit’s end
and learned the broken also mend?
Would we have met our lovely wife,
and settled in your present life?

Dear younger me,
Gouge out my eyes!
I’m blind and dumb and you are wise.
I had my doubt, but I can say
Let go, let God, we’ll be okay.
© Jeff Kyser  Create an image from this poem.
Categories: hold your tongue, future,
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Forty

Forty old?  Hold your tongue.
Having children keeps me young.
Double forty?  I don't care.
I can travel any where.

Forty here and forty there.
Forty duo makes a pair.
Forty now?  Turn a page.
Getting older is the rage.

01/25/16
Categories: hold your tongue, age,
Form: Rhyme


Human Tones

he tongue is our bank
To these ads and words we fathom
And this is what puts a man a sense of worth
And to the women a sense of rose
From the oratory we admire to the poetry we adore

Praise be our mother’s tongue that is our source
To raise our English that we purpose
Praise to our Lord Allah that is our force
It is him that gives us this strong
To this home and form we belong

But to this tongue once it goes wrong
And once it scorns what a human is born
To this character that you stroll upon
Do you know that once upon you be alone?
And that a day when you be scolded and you are gone
The ill you told, the bad feel you sold
And Hold your tongue Armageddon is just here
And be bold and don’t be so cold
© Ahmed Abdi  Create an image from this poem.
Categories: hold your tongue, islamic,
Form: Free verse

Be My Love

Will you be my love?
Together we`ll build a nest of dove.
We`ll have couple of kids
And bring up them all the days and nights.

I will be yours you will be mine 
We will wander together and dine.
From hills to valleys and bines to fines.
We`ll cross black hole and the forbidden lines.

Oh! My lady, silently come.
 Let surrounding be deaf and dumb.
Stand frontward and hold your tongue.
Let the critic keep mum.
Categories: hold your tongue, love,
Form: Verse

Solitary Rock

This is a choka inspired by a magnificent solitary rock form I came across on my walk
through the woods this weekend.


(Choka Defintion

The most intricate Japanese Poetry form is the Choka, or Long Poem.

The early form consisted of a series of Katuata joined together. This gives a choice of
form structures of ..... 5 - 7 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7.. etc, or .. 5 - 7 - 5 - 5 - 7 - 5.. etc. )




Solitary Rock
    by Amy Swanson   2.8.2009


Cracked and aged with time
a solitary rock stands
solid, proud and strong.

If you could but speak
oh, the stories you could tell,
hidden in your past.

Tales of love and war...
children playing, lovers' spats...
ancient memories.

But you hold your tongue
speaking only to nature;
quiet reverie.
Categories: hold your tongue, nature, peace
Form: Choka

The New Day

Did yesterday pass without your smile,
Nor a kind word did you speak?
Did you list all your troubles inside your mind,
And harbor them there for a week?

Did you frown on a child or a neighbor next door,
Who cheerfully acknowledged 'Good Day?'
Or did you bite your lip to hold your tongue,
When you couldn't have things your way?

Well that was Yesterday and with its passing,
You can relax and begin once more
For today is the day,  the past,
Has flown out your Welcome door!

So smile today and plan tomorrow,
To smile on all todays,
For 'tis youth which flees with a horrid frown,
But remains with a smile, Always!
© Judy Konos  Create an image from this poem.
Categories: hold your tongue, beautiful,
Form: Rhyme

Alas, We Sit In Silence

Your silence nearly deafens me
Because I am not prepared
To sit and wonder quietly,
Uncertain and quite scared.

For scared is what I surely am.
I am scared to face the fact
That instead of saying something
You choose to not react.

You hold your tongue and clench your jaw
And refuse to say a word
As if the things I shared with you
Had somehow gone unheard.

I sit here with my mouth agape
Waiting for a single sign
That I am not invisible;
That we are somehow fine.

But alas, we sit in silence
For a length of time unknown,
With you engrossed in thoughtlessness
And I trapped in my own.

I’ll not sit here any longer.
I’ll not give you precious time
To carry on your silent ways
And interrupt my climb

Toward a life of happiness
Where finally I can be
Unmistakably unburdened
And altogether free.
Categories: hold your tongue, fear, happiness, people,
Form: Rhyme

The Big Black Dog

Hold your tongue don't speak in haste.
Your words could hurt or humiliate.
Offer help and give them hope
don't take them down but lift them up.
You don't know about their inner lives
the big black dog could be close by
to take there hope and self esteem. 
Please remember don't be mean.
The big black dog he does note care
and he can strike anywhere 
the rich the poor tall or short
he really does not care, beware.


I didn't write this for a competition as such but on depression
and thought it got the message across and its something I feel
needs highlighting so entered in one of the any poem comps contest number 223 

comp entry 19/11
Categories: hold your tongue, depression,
Form: Free verse

Zip Your Mouth

A fly on the wall,
overhearing a parent
chastise their teenage child


Shut up, when you hear me
laying down the law
No back talking ...
keep it quiet, yo
Don't wanna hear no squawking

When the riot act is being read,
silence must prevail I'm afraid
Don't wanna hear a peep ...
hold your tongue, yo
Say nothing, unless I say speak

Zip your mouth
Give me the sign:
two fingers running across your lips
Nod your head
north to south
Written words I don't mind
But be careful, you're only getting this one tip ---
When I'm righting your wrong,
keep your mouth zipped
No verbal pardon forthcoming this time,
so zip your mouth ...
unless you're willing to confess to your crime
Categories: hold your tongue, child, humorous, parents, word
Form: Light Verse

A Smokers Heart

Running,panting,sweating blood,
my chests a river and a bleeding flood.
Cursing,ripping, this beating heart,
how it hates to be torn apart.
The racing drum within my chest,
calls to halt this violent test.
Lungs are black,and engine broke,
no more strength is left to yoke.
Simply now there was a pause,
hold your tongue and find the cause.
My fault alone,by my own hand,
I broke apart this one man band.
Categories: hold your tongue, health, introspection, life,
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Next Time

Hold your tongue young man
If your heart speaks don't listen
It will be a LIE
Categories: hold your tongue, hope, life, lost love,
Form: Haiku
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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

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